As the apple picking season is almost upon us I thought I'd ask about sulphur smells when fermenting cider, I know a number of people have had this in the past and I had one exceptionally stinky brew last year. I've brewed from juice squeezed from pulped fruit 3 times, once using campden tablets to sterilise the juice before fermenting, and the other 2 had no pre-fermentation treatment and I just gambled on not getting an infection.
The only one that stank was the campden tablet one.
So has anyone ever had the sulphur stink without using campden tablets/potassium or sodium metabisulfite?

When I used them I dissolved two in water and stirred into the juice (15l approx), then left the fementer lid loosely on top to keep bugs out. Should I have left the lid off to allow the smell to dissipate?
Is it worth bothering with?
cheers
lg

Sulphur smells are usually associated with lack of nutrient. They're normally gone by the end of the ferment but as they indicate the yeast is struggling you might want to do something about it. Thiamine and/or diammonium sulphate (aka commercial yeast nutrient)
In his book "Craft Cider Making", Andrew Lea suggests taking two small samples and adding a copper coin or a piece of copper wire to one, then comparing them after 10 minutes.
If the copper treatment worked, you can treat the whole batch with copper sulphate.

Following on from this, 2 batches now brewed with nutrient added and no nasty smells, I've run out of nutrient and need to order more but I'm faced with "yeast nutrient" powder and "Vitamin B1 yeast nutrient" tablets. I'd rather spend £2 on 100 tablets at around 5 per brew than £2 on enough powder for 3 brews.
Can anyone enlighten me as to the difference if any between these products and will the tablets be fine for cider? The instructions for the tablets say particuarly for flower wines.
Thanks